Lava Tubes. Camden Fairview High School NASA Lunar Research Team March 29, 2012

Transcription

1 Lava Tubes Camden Fairview High School NASA Lunar Research Team March 29, 2012

2 Lava Tubes Lava Tubes on Earth are formed when lava flowing out from volcanic activity cools and hardens to make tube like structures that allows more lava to flow. These same tubes can be found on the Moon due to its volcanic activity about 2.5 million years ago. These tubes are potential spots for research camps to be set up because of the protection and safe temperature inside of the lava tube.

3 Where Are They Located? Some lava tubes have been found in mare basins, going away from the volcanoes. An area containing lava tubes and rilles is the Marius Hills region. In 2008, an opening to such a lava tube in this area was discovered by the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft. There have also been lava tubes discovered in Mare Serenitatis.

4 Collapse Chains How to spot collapsed tubes A collapse chain is a lava tube that has folded under itself creating a depression visible to the eye as a normal rille. Image found using the LROC ACT REACT Quick Map

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6 Lava Tubes on Earth On Earth, Lava Tubes are found in the flanks of shield volcanoes such as Mauna Loa/ Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Medicine Lake in California. Wherever vast state sized flood sheets of lava are, Lava Tubes are located.

7 Lava Tubes on Earth The Maria or Seas that are found on the Moon are geologically analogous to the lava tube rich lava plains found on Earth. On those grounds alone, we would have high expectation of finding lunar tubes.

8 Difference Between Lava Tubes on Earth and the Moon Bear Trap lava tube Mare Serenitatis

9 Hana Lava Tube

10 Hana Lava Tube

11 What is a skylight? Skylights are collapses that occur over subsurface voids, and have been known to occur in un collapsed sections of sinuous rilles. It is possible that they are openings into lava tubes on the Moon. When looking at an image of a skylight, they appear to be a very dark dot on the surface of the moon. LROC view, NAC M R, of a skylight in the Marius Hills from NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

12 The Importance of Skylights Possible openings into lava tubes Could provide ideal spaces for future lunar research bases. Protection from meteorite bombardment, radiation from space, and temperature fluctuation. Provide a natural opening for exploration of subsurface caverns No drilling would be necessary.

13 Impact Craters vs. Skylights Moltke Crater Gruithuisen K Marius Hills Skylight Mare Ingenii Skylight Raised rim Ejecta blanket Visible crater floor Wider than it is deep Found all over the lunar surface Much more common No raised rim No ejecta blanket No visible floor Looks like a pit Deeper than it is wide Have only been found in mare basins Only three have been found (pictured above) Mare Tranquillitatis Skylight

14 Once there, you highlight IMAGES on the top navigation bar Then, go down to QUICK MAP on the menu and left click it

15 Displays area of the moon that the LRO photographed Left click and hold down button while moving the cursor to scroll across the photograph Zoom in or out with the blue/gray bar on the left Type in desired latitude and longitude in the bottom right hand corner Use the Path feature located at the top of the screen (next to the map icon) in order to label two different points and measure the distance between them The top right hand icons allow you to click on spots on the map you would like to pinpoint and refer back to (called data probes) and also see their location on the map via latitude and longitude

16 What We Found Lava Tube in Mare Vaporum at 8.5 lat and 7.5 long

17 What We Found Located at lat and long Located at lat and long

18 Identified skylight on Mars Located at lat and long

19 References Act-React QuickMap. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. NASA, n.d. Web. 19 Feb < da/ qmap.html>. Chizmadia, Lysa. Telephone interview. 15 Feb Coombs, Cassandra R., and B. Ray Hawke. A Search for Intact Lava Tubes on the Moon: Possible Lunar Base Habitats. The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century 1 (Sept. 1992): Print. Garner, Morgan. Personal interview. 18 Mar Lakdawalla, Emily. The Planetary Society Blog. The Planetary Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb < blog/ article/ />. Lunarpedia. Lunarpedia. The Moon Society, 5 Jan Web. 20 Feb < noodlebib/ defineentrymla.php>. Mitchell, Dennis. Telephone interview. 5 Mar NASA. Brian Dunbar, 29 Mar Web. 20 Jan < O Neill, Ian. Living in Lunar Lava Tubes. space/ moon-lunar-lavaskylight.html. Discovery, 27 Oct Web. 29 Mar < space/ moonlunar-lava-skylight.html>. 12 Questions on Lunar Lavatubes. Lunar Reclamation. Lunar Reclamation Society, Web. 22 Mar < lavatube_pix.htm>.